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Mark Giordano: Long underrated, and long underpaid |
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Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
Calgary Flames defenseman, and captain, Mark Giordano has long been considered one of the most underrated players in the game.
He’s also been one of the most underpaid.
The twins over at Evolving-Hockey.com, an awesome analytics website, put together a list of the 20 players who have provided the most excess value relative to the money they earned.
Giordano was not only featured, but he finished near the top.
It’s hardly surprising to see Giordano rank so highly. The guy is making a healthy salary at 36 years of age and it’s *still* easy to argue he is worth much more.
Now consider he was making $4 million annually for a large chunk of his prime and, yeah...he should be up there with some of the game’s most underappreciated stars like Jared Spurgeon, Mark Stone, and Sean Couturier.
This list really seems to highlight the importance of two-way players who don’t necessarily contend for the scoring lead at their position. At least not a regular basis.
Giordano, like most of the other defenders listed, generally won’t put up more than 40-50 points but he’ll drive play, shutdown top competition, and make sure his team is consistently on the receiving end of positive events.
I know it has been a long time coming – I believe it was only ~two years ago NHL.com did not rank Giordano as a top-20 defender – but it’s nice to see Giordano finally getting the recognition he deserves while he is still playing at an elite level.
Let's hope it lasts a few more years.
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